This is why we canoe! This was taken during our first trip to Algonquin Park in Ontario Canada. It is a lovely place with lots of quiet water for lazy canoing. There is a lot of wilderness camping. With your own gear or prearranged at an outfitter you can match your enjoyment to your experience. We did this trip in Aug. 1999. We camped in our popup at Lake Of Two Rivers camp grounds. Judy was on a break from her studies at the University Of Toronto and what better way to unwind then to come here.
We did a lot of canoing and as you will see in other pictures we saw a side of Ontario that is totally different from Toronto. From this quiet water to rapids and wilderness Algonquin Park has it all. This is one of the oldest camp grounds in Ontario and it is about seven hours drive from where we live in Windsor. The area is wild enough to listen to wolves at night and if you are so fortunate you may even see a bear. We did lots of walking on trails and checked out other camp grounds close by.
Well this was quite the day!! It was very nice when we left this spot. The sun was out and the weather did seem, to us anyway, to be good for a canoe ride. I wasn't sure how far we would go but felt secure in the knowledge that Judy and I would have a good time. Look it wasn't my idea to have the weather get like it did.
The week at Algonquin Park was a special time. First the trailer broke and we had to use our imagination to repair it. Because of this break down we met some real nice folks from the Toronto Area. They could not believe how we reacted to the problem. We didn't get upset we just took care of business. The rest of the time until now, at least, we had found it very enjoyable. Now it was time to take an leisurely canoe ride
With some provisions for a snack along the way we set out to cross the lake. As in the picture it was a lovely day and the lake is quite large. This would be the largest open water crossing we had made to date. We paddled to the end of the lake and there is a river that flows out. to an a joining lake. We crossed that lake and the weather was starting to deteriorate. Judy was nervous so we ate fast and started to leave.
We went back through the river to the big lake and started to cross. To the South f the big lake is a very high range of hills. Beyond the range was a big storm front. Judy was very concerned and nothing I said seemed to help. We had canoed a lot and we always wear life jackets when in open water. Our canoe is 15' 10" and we have never been dumped yet. It is flat bottomed and easy to handle. All this went out the door with the site of the storm. "PADDLE HARDER!!!!" Judy screamed. "ARE YOU PADDLING AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!!!" She yelled. Any words I had didn't seem to help. "Judy! What is the problem" I ask. "We can do this"! "We are close to shore, we are good in the canoe" I said. "I DON'T CARE!!!!" Judy screamed. "ARE YOU PADDLING AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!!!" That is the way it went for the trip home.
It had been
one fun trip. We
still
joke and tease each other about it.
The best part is we made it back and then we loaned the canoe to our
new found friends and went for a walk. What about that storm? It did
show up but it wasn't very bad and we were dry. Our friends were safe
also and as I believe dry.